Welcome! The Friends work on behalf of birds and wildlife, helping to protect the critically important habitat of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, and helping to educate and inform the public about the value and beauty of all life at the Bosque.
Please Join Us in this crucial effort!

We have some great resources on the web site for you, including information about the Refuge, including bird check lists, seasonal, year-round birding lists, and maps; information about The Friends of the Bosque, our schedule of great educational events such as workshops, programs, seminars, classes and lectures along with color posters you can download for free; everything you need to know about Our Festival of The Cranes; and a number of special pages with contributions by our Bosque Youth Friends; and more!

We have a great slide show of photographs. (this used to be on our first page for those of you who miss seeing it - large file-1MB.) Please visit out flyout page with sound, too!

Thank you for visiting our web site, and don't forget to check what's new just below!!

(Be sure to scroll down past Bird Checklist and Count Information
to "Other Important News" - Updated regularly!

• Bird Checklists for each season at the Bosque A Refuge for All Seasons
• Crane, Light Goose, Duck (and other Bird) Counts for Current and Previous Years. (pdf) From 2002-2008
• US Fish & Wildlife Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge Bird Check List (pdf)

• Friends,
  
  It is with sadness that I am reporting to you of the passing of Emerson Learn. Emerson died Sunday, June 29th in comfort, with his wife, Cheryl.
  
  We remember Emerson as one of the most out-going individuals I've ever known. An excellent birder whose favorite activity was sharing his experiences, his positive outlook toward life and his knowledge with others of all ages. He gave countless tours of the refuge and his enthusiasm got a myriad of people greatly interested in the refuge itself, as well as birding, including yours truly.
  
  On a personal note, because of Emerson, I become a volunteer at our wonderful refuge. He also took on the task of mentoring me to at least know the birds of Bosque del Apache and maybe a few more. In return, Emerson enrolled in many of our photo workshops at the refuge in order to learn how to photograph nature in a more creative manner well as the hundreds more birds they were privileged to see on their trips around the world.
  
  We also remember Emerson as president and a charter member of the Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR. He had a dream that the friends group could someday be as strong as we are today. With his leadership and prodding, the Friends have grown into a support organization to benefit Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, and continue under the succeeding leadership of many dedicated individuals.
  
  We will remember Emerson and miss him for his enthusiasm, leadership, and many other fine qualities that has touched us all over the years. Our hearts go out to Cheryl and their family with our thoughts and prayers.
  
  Sincerely, Jerry Goffe
  
  
• Emerson Learn Memorial
  Friday, July 11, 2008
  2:00 pm
  St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church
  601 Montano NW, Albuquerque
  In lieu of flowers, donations are requested for the Emerson Learn Bus Scholarship Endowment c/o Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR, PO Box 340, San Antonio, NM 87832
  
  
• The following is a link to the blog for Emerson Learn. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emersonlearn
  
  
• NEW! Festival of the Cranes 2008 New Web Site A totally new web site has been created for the Festival of the Cranes, November 18-23, 2008. Please visit the site, and be sure to save those dates for great workshops, lectures and tours at the Bosque! Please attend and help us welcome the cranes again in 2008.
  
  
• News from the Bosque Nature Store- both our Secure Online Store and our Store at the Refuge - we welcome our new store manager- Shirleen Greenwood. All Festival 2007 merchandise in the store (call 575-835-1828) and on our Secure Online Bosque Nature Store is reduced - all remaining T-Shirts are $6 and pins, magnets, posters are only $3 each.
  
  
• The latest JULY 2008 Bosque Watch Newsletter is now available for download. Please click Newsletter page to download the new edition, past editions and Habitat!
  
  
• The Friends of the Bosque and Bosque del Apache NWR are proud to present Events, Workshops and programs.
  Please see the event calendar by clicking here: 2008 Programs. We also have special color posters available for you to download free for each event!
  
  
• Friends of the Bosque Board Meetings - You are all invited to attend! We always need your input and your help
  Remaining Board Meetings 2008
  July 19th at the Bosque del Apache Lannan Annex
  September 13th at the Santa Fe Lannan Offices
  November 1st at the Bosque del Apache Lannan Annex
  
  
• Just Announced! Information available for the Friends Birding Adventure trip to Costa Rica March 14-28, 2009:
  Brochure (pdf)
  Enrollment Form (pdf)
  Jon Morrison's article (HTML page)
  Travel Agency link for Costa Rica 2009
  
  
• 10 Million Year Old Fossil Discovered at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge! See Story here
  
  
• We have just posted a wonderful, creative story by Jenna Melanson. Please read it here at Kid Talk You will love it!
  
  
  Click here to download this color poster for printing (1.1MB)
  
  
• Congratulations to All for A Great Celebration!
  Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR presented Mapping the Rio, Children's Art, Science & Photography Exhibit from April 28th through May 19th, 2008 at the Macey Center Art Gallery, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM with River Partners and in conjunction with NM Wild Film Series. (We saw The Milagro Beanfield War; Rio Grande, River of Connection, A Documentary,;and several Short Films, including Why Wilderness, Wolf, Otero Mesa & More.) It was a great success, and the creations and input from the kids made a huge impact.
  
  
  
  John Bertrand & Driector Leigh Ann Vradenburg
  National Friends Conference 2008
  
  
• Fantastic News!! The Friends of the Bosque and the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge are thrilled and honored to announce that our very own Friend John Bertrand has been chosen to receive the 2008 National Volunteer of the Year Award for the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)! We knew we were lucky to have John donating his time and talents to the Friends of the Bosque and the Refuge, but now the whole nation will know what a wonderful volunteer he is!
  Many fine volunteers across the nation were nominated, and John was chosen for his unparalleled dedication and his remarkable accomplishments . The award committee was "especially impressed" and felt that John was "indeed a worthy recipient of this award." Please read all about it here!! National Volunteer of the Year! John Bertrand
  
  
• The John Taylor dedication which was scheduled for Dec. 15th in conjunction with Ducks Unlimited.has been postponed. The structure to be dedicated has not been completed, and we will notify you when a new date is scheduled.
  
  
• Go mobile with the new Friends' Mobile web site! Use this for access on your mobile phone- Bird counts, News and more. Location: www.FriendsoftheBosque.org/mobile
  
  
• Thanks to the many generous donors who made the wonderful Chupadera peak and surrounding land acquisition possible! The Victory Party was held Saturday, Dec 1, 2007 at the Refuge. with a formal dedication and unveiling of a monument honoring the 267 donors who make this purchase possible! Also inscribed on the bronze plaque are the names of 85 individuals and organizations who donated one or more acres. Please see Chupadera peak
  
  
• Both Habitat! and the latest Edition of the Bosque Watch Newsletter are available for download here: Newsletters (New editions and past editions)
  
  
• Thank you, all of you who came to celebrate the wonderful 20th Anniversary of the Festival of the Cranes 2007 with us! We are grateful for your support and love for the Bosque! Thank you also to the many volunteers who provided information and help to the many visitors to the Festival of the Cranes. It coud not have been done without you!
  
  
• Wow! Festival Merchandise is now available on our Secure Online Bosque Nature Store We have T-Shirts, mugs , Tote bags, magnets, lapel pins and more online!
  
  
• SPECIAL EVENT Success! Please Read- Updated!
  Friends of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
  Fall Fundraising Event in Santa Fe, NM on Wednesday October 24, 2007, was a great success. The evening began with special seating at the The Lannan Reading and Conversation with Tim Flannery and Amy Goodman who were fascinating and brilliant.
  Leigh Ann Vradenburg gave an excellent introduction to the Bosque and the Friends, and showed a wonderful PowerPoint slide show with 67 sildes illustrating the beauty of the Bosque and the accomplishments of the Friends in educating and informing and contributing to the refuge.
  The Friends had a table in the lobby of the Lensic with membership brochures, festival booklets and information, and several Friends helped hand out information and told people about the Refuge.
  The "Meeting & Conversations" Event continued with Tim Flannery, who is an internationally acclaimed environmental scientist and the author of The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth. Amy Goodman is the popular host and executive producer of Pacifica Radio's daily newsmagazine Democracy Now! which airs on over 400 stations in North America
  Immediately following this event there was a private dinner with Tim Flannery and Amy Goodman at the Lannan Meeting House in Santa Fe, NM.
  The event was generously hosted by Lannan www.lannan.org
  
  
• Celebration of the great Chupadera Acquisition! All are invited! thanks to the many generous donors who made this possible! Dec 1, 2007 at the Refuge
  
  
• Documents required by the IRS to be publically available (These are both viewable pdf files) - 2006 Audit report for The Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR and 2006 IRS Form 990 for The Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR
  
  
• NEW!: We are proud to announce the exciting new website for our Mapping The Rio Watershed Education Project! We are dedicated to education, and this is our main ongoing educational project, and one we guarantee you will enjoy seeing! The site is full of photos and full of beautiful and heartfelt poems about the river by Elementary School kids. Mapping the Rio Grande,Rio Grande Watershed Curriculum Elementary School Education Project, is a fun and innovative program, which has met with great acclaim (kids LOVE it!) Thank you for your support in continuing the project.
  
  
• NEW! Announcing The Grand Opening of the Secure Online Bosque Nature Store! We are excited about this great project, and hope you will enjoy shopping online and supporting the Friends and the Refuge though your purchases. We will continue to offer membership (all levels) and donations on our secure site also.
  
  
• Please check Festival of the Cranes Special Pages for the schedule of events, lectures, workshops and registration for our exciting 20th Anniversary Festival of the Cranes. We will have our Exhibitor tent and wonderful Wildlife Art Tent again this year, too. We're looking forward to seeing you at the Festival! The Schedule is almost complete, and our Festival Cover Artist is Leon Miler
  
  
• NEW! Two fantastic photos in our Youth Report from the Field Jenna Melanson has been helping at the Bosque, and we thought you would like to see her enjoying her work!
  
  
• Chupadera Peak Acquisition Victory! We will be adding 6,272 foot Chupadera Peak and the surrounding 140 acres to the Refuge, thanks to your donations! More than 270 individuals, service clubs and organizations contributed amounts from $10 to $4,500 to the fund-raising campaign. Seventy-three donors each contributed the price of one acre ($450), and over $7,000 was contributed through this web site. We hope the purchase will be completed at the end of May. We will be announcing the Victory Party at the Chupadera Wilderness trailhead soon, and hope you will all be able to attend so we can thank you in person! Please read more about our purchase of this 140 acre tract which will provide a buffer zone for the peak and the adjoining Chupadera Wilderness. (and see some wonderful photos)
  
  
• John Bertrand, the great man behind the Chupadera Peak drive, has sent beautiful wildflower photos from Chupadera ! Wildflowers
  
  
• NEW! Jeanne Emmerson is now the new Store manager for Our Bosque Nature Store. As store manager, she oversees the operation of the Nature Store primarily to enhance educational experiences of visitors to the Refuge, and secondarily to provide revenue that can be used to assist the Refuge in its ecological and educational activities.
  
  
• TRIP! Birding Trip to Costa Rica Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR announce details about this special trip from February 20-29, 2008. The trip is limited to 15 people, so be sure to sign up soon.
  
  
• Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP). Public scoping meetings have been held in both Socorro and Albuquerque to hear from a variety of organizations, agencies, and individuals.
  A Planning Update is available to familiarize you with the planning process, current refuge management, and potential issues.
  The CCP is required by law under the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997. The Act states that each refuge must have a plan by 2012 and that plans will be reviewed and updated every 15 years.The CCP will guide management direction, provide support for budget requests, and be the legal basis for decisionmaking.
  For more information about the Public Scoping Meetings or Bosque del Apache NWR, please contact the refuge at (505) 835-1828 or at P.O. Box 1246, Socorro, NM 87801. You may also contact Regional Planner Carol Torrez at (505) 248-6821 or carol_torrez@fws.gov
  
  
• Please read the fascinating and touching ongoing Field Journal by the team at Operation Migration They are working to help save a species following the catastrophic loss of most of the young whooping cranes (17 out of 18) in the Class of 2006. They were killed in the tornado in Florida Feb 3, 2007.
  
  
• Educational Events are updated here! (Free Weekend Tours, Wildlife Photography Workshop, Wildflower Hike, International Migratory Bird Day Celebration, The Amazing World of Aquatic Insects, Damselflies and Dragonflies at the Bosque, A Travel Guide to the Milky Way, The Bosque Artists Reception, Explore the Night Sky and more) Free Posters to download!
  
  
• New! Bosque Seasonal Birding pages with detailed bird, mammal and plant lists for each season
  
  

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Friends of The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge P.O. Box 340 San Antonio, New Mexico 87832 Contact Us

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